Wednesday, 10 December 2008

Here is my "Munty" a fabulous machine lent to me by my good friend in Somerset who is also a Hattersley maniac. These winders are very rare and I look after it with great care. This picture shows me winding off some handspun yarn (wonderful superwash pink/plum/maroon) plied with some handspun nylon - all rovings from The Sheepshed Studio in Wyoming. The only supplier I have ever found of nylon roving for handspinning. It's well worth having a browse on the website (I shall put it on my links below) as they have a great selection of both spun up yarns and tops, rovings and caps for those of us who are that way inclined.

The "Munty" was designed and made by Mr Munt, and I don't think you can get them now, but it has proved an absolute boon for me - winding off handspuns, and making up cones to warping. It also comes with a skein holder so you can wind off skeins. Just amazing!

To change the subject completely, the local arts centre is having their annual open exhibition from March this year and I'm determined to enter something textiley and unusual. Though there are a lot of textile workers in the Outer Hebrides, it is under represented from a artistic viewpoint. Now, I'm not a particularly arty sort of person - more commercial - but over the past couple of years I have been veering off on that sort of tangent, so I'm going to do something amazing for the show....... have a few ideas simmering but nothing tangible just yet. Will post progress on the blog. Meantime, if you have any ideas, please don't keep them to yourself, let me know. 2009 is the international year of natural fibres, so it must have a NF content and theme.